Plans for a new fire control centre for the Thames Valley have been crippled after one of the partners pulled out of talks.

Berkshire fire bosses could now look to London as an alternative location for handling 999 calls.

The news comes less than a week after members of the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority voted to proceed with proposals for a Thames Valley hub.

Bosses will have to think again after Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority withdrew from the project to pursue a partnership with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, leaving only Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Olaf Baars, deputy chief officer for Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service, said: “We do not fully understand the rationale for the decision taken by their fire authority and, whilst this decision is a major blow to our plans, we hope to work with Oxfordshire to see if anything can be salvaged from these proposals.

“However, a Thames Valley control centre was just one of a number of options considered.”

One of the options described as the most credible was to work with London Fire Brigade in its Control and Mobilising Service.

Berkshire officers also considered the possibility of working with Surrey Fire and Rescue or to join a collaborative project between Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Devon and Somerset. Outsourcing to private companies has also been considered.

Officers say going it alone in the current control room at Dee Road, Tilehurst, would require major investment in new technology with only limited opportunity for making efficiency savings.

Officers at RBFRS have been investigating options for a new centre since the FiRecontrol project to replace all 46 local control rooms in England with nine regional centres was scrapped in December 2010, at a cost of £469 million.